Hi all
I am Australian and have recently applied for Polish dual citizenship as my grandfather is Polish. I am told I have to go to Poland to pick up my new passport and citizenship papers once everything is finalised.
I am curious to know, do I simply enter Poland on a tourist visa and leave with my new EU passport? Or is there a different process to go through?
Cheers
Brett
well, as a future Polski=now EU citizen-you should be aware that PL is now a full part of the Schengen zone-and that due to airline routings there is a 98% chance your first stop in EU will not be PL. see any problem But IF that entry follows the Schengen rules as set out-and if hence your passpt is scanned as OZzie-then they may-if anyone would bother to care- ''miss'' you after the 3 month expiry and no exit registered. Perhaps you might even land on the ''missing persons'' list of some OZ embassy.........
Ruth, I am not so sure as regards OP's case. There's a rule that a Polish citizen has always to show his/her Polish passport at a Polish border, regardless whether he has other passports as well.
Being OP I would ask the Polish officials for advice on picking up his Polish passport, or perhaps showing both passports and explaining the situation to the border guard would be a solution, too. Having a double citizenship is legal in Poland but from the point of view of Polish law one is considered Polish citizen only, the second passport is irrelevant.
You must enter and exit on the same passport. Since OP won't have a Polish passport until he gets there, OP will have to enter on his Australian passport and must show that when departing.
If OP shows the Polish passport at the border, I suspect that this will only raise questions.
On future visits to the EU OP should only use his Polish passport.
Ruth
I plan on travelling through europe on my Polish passport. Would that then mean I would need to leave Europe all together on my Australian passport and then come back in on my new Polish Passport?
Brett
#4, it could also raise questions if OP leaves Schengen zone on his Australian passport and then reenters on his Polish passport. On his reentry the SIS system may show him as he had never left the EU - so how on earth is he entering instead of leaving? I guess however most border guards would just wave him through.
#5 - you can easily travel across the EU on the new Polish passport, as on travelling through Schengen Europe (EU minus UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus) you either won't be controlled at all or would be only asked to show your passport on assumption that you started your trip in Poland. The problem is only what you should show on the EU external border, i.e. on leaving the Schengen zone. I would rather advise to show your Polish passport but Ruth has a different view.
BTW - even if you don't show the Australian passport on leaving and the Schengen information system shows you as having overstayed (based on Australian passport record), it should have no consequences for you, because as a Polish citizen you will have a legal right to enter and reside in the EU regardless of your previous visa history, including any entries in the SIS system.
Corrections: Cyprus is also part of Schengen-AFAIK-GR has pressed for the borthers there
Also: I really doubt if someone would bother at all-which I tried to persiflage in my 1st response. Also an OZzie does NOT need to apply for a real Schengen visum anyway to enter-the passpt is enough (I just wish that english-speaking persons would also know enough english to use the right terms). Ruth should have stated; you SHOULD always exit on the same passpt as used by entry- but then all those assumed Schengen (SIS)_ systems etc are so scattered-and often not used at all-that I sincerely doubt if that would make any difference. The poster should at least know enough of polski to ask it when s/he gets his/her new passpt. what to do.
#7 - Cyprus has accessed to the Schengen Agreement but not yet implemented it, which means that border checks still exist between Cyprus and other EU Member States and a separate Cypriot visa is required for those that need a visa (not Australians though). As for now, Cyprus is not yet considered part of Schengen zone.
See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_zone
http://europa.eu/abc/travel/doc/index_en.htm
I guess the Cypriots are not in a great hurry to join the Schengen zone, as it would force them to apply much stricter (and mostly needless) visa requirements to Russian and Ukrainian tourists & businessmen, which are a great source of revenue for the Cypriot economy.